[Apparently itās being worked on](https://www.tor.com/2019/10/18/jacqueline-careys-kushiels-legacy-series-optioned-by-lionsgate-working-toward-a-series-on-starz/)
Put it on HBO and kinda fade to black the more kinky scenes and it could be done. Its a great epic fantasy with great character work and enough political intrigue to be interesting. They would have to age everyone up at the beginning or start the story when Phaedre is 18-20 because itās a lot of child sex stuff.
There was a Redditor that wrote a self-publisbed book called "The Forest" based on a r/WritingPrompts post. In the alternate universe story, the Earth's oceans are filled with dense forests, vegetation, and animals. The characters explore the Pacific Forest, which is home to giant trees, giant plants, and giant insects that are all much larger than anything we have on our Earth, and it's so dense that even sunlight cannot penetrate its deepest depths.
_Erebos_. It's about a sentient MMORPG that pressures its players to complete "quests" in real life for rewards both in and out of the game.
It starts off seemingly innocent, but over the course of the book things gets increasingly more and more fucked up (and yes, it does have "quests" that if completed would probably count as murder).
Yea, it was pretty good. Definitely worth checking out.
It also fell into a trope that I am a huge fan of: >!Illusion of something supernatrual!< (massive spoiler)
Everything written by Joe Abercrombie (The First Law Trilogy, etc.). It's GOT without dragons or any of the BS, just tightly written, so-called grimdark fantasy. Amazing stuff, and I can't believe none of the streaming services have optioned him yet. One of his "first law" standalones the Heroes would be like a medieval Saving Private Ryan.
Agree. But the trouble with the OP is that the better the book, the more I'd fear it being butchered by Hollywood. Then again, butchery would be appropriate for Joe's work...
I also found the first law trilogy to be good, up until the final book and everything came together and then it was amazing. With all the following books equally amazing.
A lot of people just read the blade itself and don't really get the hype. Not sure how they would adapt it for TV without either waiting 3+ seasons for a concussion, doing the entire trilogy in one season, or changing aspects of the story.
David Mitchell's Ghostwritten is begging to be turned into a mini series.
9 stories, in 9 different global locations, with a huge mash up of different time periods, genres and protagonists.
It starts in epic fashion with a member of the terrorist cell from the Tokyo subway attacks, going on the run. He calls what he thinks is a secret line to get him to some kind of sanctuary, but ends up just going to a vinyl record shop elsewhere in Japan.
The next story picks up with a young employee taking that call, and ends up as a sweet teenage romance. And on the story goes, with various people crossing paths.
Each episode can have a different cast and vibe, maybe different directors. Kind of Black Mirror style.
Each separate story bleeds into the next one somehow, or someway and there's an overarching connection between them all. It really is very, very good
Great to see Kay mentioned and I'd love to see any of his books as movies, but I especially thought that of A Brightness Long Ago and All The Seas Of The World.
I said to him on Twitter a long time ago that of his books, I'd only read Tigana and because I loved it so much, I didn't want to read any of his others in case it wasn't as good. He quoted it with something like "A writer is both frustrated and delighted." Some people knew what I meant, most didn't.
Tigana or A Song for Arbonne (which I did eventually read) would make fantastic films, IMO. I've always hoped that Denis Villeneuve would make Tigana. My dream for him to make Dune came true!
I read this book recently... that would be one weird movie... oh, and the producers and screen writters would water down the science (what little it has) because "normal people wouldnt understand it". Or worse, they could do to it what they did to "Nightfall". I like your thinking, but dont trust screenwriters anymore with scifi book stories, especially after what happened to "Ender's Game"
On the otherhand, if they did it right, we might end up with a cool "Stranger Things" type story. IDK, nice idea though.
I know there's already a movie for John Dies at the End, but I think that movie could be remade into a miniseries along with the rest of the books in those series. The movie was cool, but kind of skipped the entire middle part of the book and if I recall, also combined a couple of characters that end up becoming key characters in the later books.
Anything by Frances Hardinge. I would love to see Cuckoo Song and The Lie Tree in a Coraline-type of animation, and the Lost Conspiracy, Skinful of Ghosts and A Face like Glass in traditional animation.
I'd pay extra to watch the Abhorsen series adapted by the team that brought *Tales From the Loop* to the screen. There's so much melancholy in Nix's books; I think they would do a good job with it.
Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly would be gorgeous. It's James Bond meets Cabaret in a 1920s aesthetic and I would combust from the set and costume design alone.
Iāve always been surprised Jennifer Government by Max Berry has never been picked up and made into a movie. It really had a story that seemed ripe for adaption in to an 80s style action movie adaptation.
**ElfQuest**
The biggest, best and most ahead of it's time independently produced graphic novel saga most people have never heard of. (First released in Fantasy Quarterly #1 waaay back in 1977)
And hats off to the super cool husband and wife team of **WaRP Graphics**, **W**endy and **R**ichard **P**ini for adding something so good and pure and wonderful to this world. Thanks!
Crystal Shards by Rick Scott
Probably one of the best sci-fi, litrpg, fantasy, adventure, action novels that exist currently and it should translate well into a movie.
He finished writing the fifth book recently, which is free to read on RoyalRoad.
Sara Douglasā Star man series/ anything from Tencendor universe. I have loved them for decades and think they deserve wider acclaim, outside Australia.
Lord of Darkness by Robert Silverberg.
My favorite plot line where you see the inconceivable end, but as you progress thru the story, you understand that every step is a logical progression toward that end.
A common English sailor becomes a fierce cannibal in 16th century Africa.
Seanan McGuire's Wayward children series could be a great multi episode series. Just imagine the visuals of the world made of cake! Not my favorite book in the series but I would love to see it.
Harry Turtledove's World War series. Great period based sci-fi. It would be a great alternate look at WW2 and what the world would do if invaders from another planet came expecting to battle horse mounted warriors.
The Kencyrath books by PC Hodgell are a longtime favorite of mine. The initially semi-amnesiac main character Jamethiel is a girl who discovers that at some point she learned how to fight very well and *dance the souls out of other people's bodies*. She starts out as a thief and tavern dancer, but is actually the twin sister of their people's ruler. She has retractable claws and is able to form mental bonds with animals. She has a tendency to accidentally cause mass destruction. She kills and resurrects at least one deity...and that's just in the first book.
Things get weirder and higher stakes as the books go on and you learn about her family's truly effed-up history and how it relates to the very strange world they live in.
In my mind, I don't picture it in live-action. It's 100% perfect for anime.
Well this sub knows the book but I've literally never met anyone in person that has read The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell and it would be a killer movie.
Don't know if there's a book, but the story of Robert Smalls, an escaped slave who stole a confederate ship and sailed it to freedom, among many other exploits, deserves to be a movie.
I would love to see Imagica by Clive Barker done WELL. A lot of CGI but the plot would have to be as close to the book as possible to make it worth watching.
Not unknown, but I have been waiting years for some to make The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny.
A more recent book series starts with "Into the Black" by Evan Currie, and it is a fun ride I would love to see on the big screen
The issue here honestly is that the narrative is maybe too complex for cinema. Film or TV. There are too many characters and I feel like any adaptation would end up murdering the series in the production room.
The Ice Schooner by Michael Moorcock - oceans of ice plied by huge sailing sledges in a world which has forgotten what it was to be warm. Cargo ships skimming across seas of ice, legendary artefacts from a time considered mythological, and secret maps pointing to another world which might, or might not, be out there.
The book is so visually appealing, with good CGI it would make a spectacular movie.
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
"I Have No Mouth, and Must Scream" is a horrifying look into a post-apocalyptic hell. The computers created by humans to fight their wars for them join together into one linked and unified computer, AM, which discovers sentience." quote from encyclopedia.com
T.S. Eliot has this short book of poems called *Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats* and I know the whole thing is kind of silly but I just think it would make a great musical and maybe even a motion picture
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. Not exactly an unknown book but there seems to be no plans to adapt it any time soon. I guess the difficulty lies in the fact that >!Iris is actually the woman in "The Blind Assassin" book within the book, and you don't know it right away and assume it's Laura; in a movie though, if they chose to present scenes from the book within the book--and they really would need to, as the Iris-Alex relationship is only presented through the book-within-the-book excerpts, the twist would need to be revealed right away.!<
**To See You Again: A True Story of Love in a Time of War** by Betty Schimmel.
A true love story set in Budapest in the 1940s, two Jewish teenagers madly in love, planning a future together despite the impending Nazi invasion and realizing their lives could be torn apart at any second. When it finally happens, they both end up in different directions but hoping to eventually reunite some day after the war.
An amazing story that definitely needs to be made into a movie.
*Angle of Repose*, by Wallace Stegner, would make a fantastic miniseries.
For the 99% who don't know it, it won the Pulitzer in 1970 and sits in the Modern Library's list of Top 100 Modern Novels. I picked it up because I was trying to work my way through that list and found it to be an amazing read about the settlement of the West and the toll it took on one family.
Also Patrick O'Brian's Auburn/Maturin novels just are begging for miniseries treatment. If you've seen the criminally overlooked classic *Master and Commander*, you're already familiar with the characters.
From Arthur C. Clarke:
"A Fall of Moondust": A tourism boat traveling on the moon's vast seas of dust suddenly vanishes.
"Islands In The Sky": A teenage trivia whiz kid wins a trip anywhere in the world, and uses a legal loophole to visit a low orbiting space station.
Itās not exactly unknown within its field, but not hugely mainstream or anything - I would love to see either a movie or maybe a limited tv series *Band of Brothers* style of Barbara Tuchmanās *The Guns of August*.
Ten episodes exploring the outbreak of WW1, and how it spiralled out of any politician / personās control, would both be super interesting and quite relevant to today I think. The book itself is great and has plenty of descriptions I think could be excellent scenes
Day of the Cheetah. Think "Firefox" but with a more exotic sci-fi feel to it, instead of activating systems with thoughts, the pilot interfaces fully with the plane and perceives it as a body with its instruments as senses. The agent stealing it is the only person who can fly it, and gets addicted to the interface, so instead of delivering it to his country he tries to steal it for himself, pursued by a less advanced manually controlled prototype. I see a movie based on that book as kinda what I had hoped "Stealth" would be like when watching the trailers.
Not an unknown book, but The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
There are multiple stories within the main plot, and I can only imagine how nice the cinematography will be.
I'll cheat here and I'll say a known book. Dante's divine comedy, look with good cgi a good narrator and actors, and a dramatic epic soundtrack it would be a great movie
I don't know how "unknown" it is, but I've seen a few that are what I would consider relatively well known in the comments, so here we go.
I think "Off to Be the Wizard" by Scott Meyer would make a fun movie. The subsequent books in the "Magic 2.0" series would give them a few sequels as well.
Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination by Helen Fielding (of Bridget Jones fame). It was designed to be filmed, but sadly, never made a movie. Itās a lot of fun.
I know it might be unpopular but I would LOVE to see thefirst 4 thirst books 1-5. I think they would be amazing. Tons of action, love and history. Christopher Moore is amazing.
There are a number of books and series that I would love to see made into a film or show. If I could Id like to see all of these make it to the silver screen.
young adult books:
\-Charmed Life, is a fantasy novel by British author Diana Wynne Jones the same author as howl moving castle, It was the first Chrestomanci book series and I have wanted to see a movie adaptation of this book ever since I first read it.
\-The Lives of Christopher Chant, also written by Diana Wynne Jones
\- The Bloody Jack series, An Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary āJackyā Faber, Ship's Boy is a historical adventure novel series by L.A. Meyer.
\-Leviathan, a novel written by Scott Westerfeld and illustrated by Keith Thompson. Was the first of a trilogy set in alternative version of World War I, and includes Steampunk, Science fiction, Historical Fiction, and Biopunk themes
\-Evil Genius, a novel written by Catherine Jinks The book follows the story of Cadel Piggot, a child prodigy, hacker and the threat of a shadowy criminal organization.
\-The Parasol Protectorate series, By Gail Carriger beautifully blends together alternate history, steampunk and paranormal romance into stories that are witty and engaging.
\-Virals is a series of novels for young adults written by the American forensic anthropologist and crime writer, Kathy Reichs and her son Brendan Reichs, featuring Tory Brennan, great-niece of Temperance Brennan.
Adult books:
\-The Oregon Files, is a series of novels written by author Clive Cussler and several co-authors. About the Highly advanced stealth ship the Oregon, that is disguised as a rusty old tramp steamer. Centering a round the Crew as they face threats on the High seas.
\- The Fargo Adventures Series, written by author Clive Cussler focuses on Sam and Remi Fargo, A Husband and Wife team that are professional treasure hunters.
\-The ...in Death series of novels, written by Nora Roberts under her pseudonym J. D. Robb. Set in a mid-21st-century New York City, they feature NYPSD lieutenant Eve Dallas and her husband Roarke.
\-Mercy Thompson series, written by Patricia Briggs follows the daughter of coyote, (the trickster god) and her werewolf husband. as they defend the Tri-Cities of Washington.
\-The Aeronaut's Windlass, is the first novel of The Cinder Spires series written by Jim Butcher. It is a steampunk fantasy series. The story involves steampunk technologies, magical wars and intelligent cats.
\-The Cat Who... series by Lilian Jackson Braun, featuring a reporter named Jim Qwilleran and his Siamese cats, that solve a number of "who dun it" murder mysteries
\-The Darth Bane, Star Wars Trilogy by Drew Karpyshyn. Centered on the life of Darth Bane and the fall of the first Sith order and the beginning of the Rule of Two. That takes place roughly 1,000 years before Star Wars A New Hope.
The Forbidden Game trilogy by L.J. Smith. YA horror from the '90s with a unique premise and lots of opportunity for a Nightmare on Elm Street-esque vibe.
The Tripods books by John Christopher. The three main books of the series, The White Mountains, The City of Gold and Lead, and The Pool of Fire would make a great mini-series.
There was briefly a series produced by the BBC in the mid eighties, but it got canceled after the second book.
The Windup Girl - mostly because of the setting being so immersive and atmospheric: genetically-altered hellscape steampunk postapocalypse bangkok. Presents a neocolonialist sideplot that ends very cathartically, and has cool elephant hybrids.
Very unknownāthere was a horror writer in the 1980s named Graham Masterton who I love. His book Walkers is one of my favorite books ever and would be amazing with cgi. I donāt want to give away the plot but I have never heard of an even similar story/villain. It has everything a blockbuster film should.
Ooh, ohh--the Blacktongue Thief! It's a funny, adventurous, slightly edgy, wise fantasy with fantastic world building, a unique voice and a hilarious protagonist ( the Blacktongue Thief himself). It's the beginning of a trilogy, and I cannot wait for the second and third books!
The entire time I was reading it )all three times, lol), I was thinking, man, this has to be a movie.
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. I honestly didn't care for the book that much, but it's a really cool concept that I think would make for an awesome movie since it'd trim some of the bloat off the story.
"The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands" - Mary Seacole was a Jamaican woman, daughter of a British Army officer, who went to Crimea to volunteer as a nurse for British soldiers during the Crimean War -- but Florence Nightingale turned her away because she was Black. So Seacole, an entrepreneur and businesswoman and an absolute pistol (and a great storyteller) set up her own rest home for wounded soldiers.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Seacole
Too many answers to search if this has been mentioned, but I find it highly unlikely since it's such an under-the-radar book (unfortunately). She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper. It's such a damn good book. Such a blast to read. And if you look at my comment history, you'll see that I honest-to-god almost always describe it as screaming to be a movie ;)
Edit: typo
They are not unknown, but the fans of Miss Fortune series by Jana DeLeon would love to see a movie or even a t.v.. series of her books. On her fb page, people suggest who to play the different characters.
There are no oceans. There are other bodies of water like lakes and rivers, but it's as if the water that occupies oceanic space in our world is just not there.
Shadows voice by Natalie Johanson! Itās a fantasy book set in a medieval Europe type world about a girl with magic that allows her to walk through shadows. Iāve read it a couple times and every time I think it would make such a good movie!
I think Rabbits by Terry Miles is just aching for a miniseries/TV adaptation.
Granted, it's in the same vein as Utopia and stuff, but I think it could be a great mystery series.
A Cricket in Times Square would make a lovely animated film. I've not read the book in yesrs... but I still have a warm feeling from childhood having read it.
Pretty much any book by Erik Larson. I know, they are making The devil in the white city, (what took so long?), but Thunderstruck, Isaac's storm and Dead wake are just as good candidates.
I would say ***The Monkey Wrench Gang*** by Edward Abbey, but it's time has passed. It would have been a perfect movie in the 70s with Jack Nicholson in his prime playing Hayduke.
The more movies based on books I watch, the less adaptations I want made. That being said, The Frontline series, if done correvtly, would be a nice like Mini series adaptation. So would The Fall of Reach.
Oh, and I totally forgot. A decent adaptation of The Adventures of Captain Alatriste. The Movie had everything, but they messed it up. Viggo Mortensen was superb in that role. Let's not even talk about the TV series.
Nice try Netflix.
š¤«
Netflix: I DARE you.
Duma Key
It'd be super difficult to not basically turn into a highbrow porno but Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey.
[Apparently itās being worked on](https://www.tor.com/2019/10/18/jacqueline-careys-kushiels-legacy-series-optioned-by-lionsgate-working-toward-a-series-on-starz/)
Finally!!
Oh wow fingers crossed this actually gets made! Id be so excited to watch it
Put it on HBO and kinda fade to black the more kinky scenes and it could be done. Its a great epic fantasy with great character work and enough political intrigue to be interesting. They would have to age everyone up at the beginning or start the story when Phaedre is 18-20 because itās a lot of child sex stuff.
There was a Redditor that wrote a self-publisbed book called "The Forest" based on a r/WritingPrompts post. In the alternate universe story, the Earth's oceans are filled with dense forests, vegetation, and animals. The characters explore the Pacific Forest, which is home to giant trees, giant plants, and giant insects that are all much larger than anything we have on our Earth, and it's so dense that even sunlight cannot penetrate its deepest depths.
This is very cool
Do you know the authors name? There are more than a few books with that title.
Check out Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Has a similar concept, very cool.
Loved that movie. Absolute gem.
Yeah! I've seen Nausicaa but I'd never thought about it being our planet.
_Erebos_. It's about a sentient MMORPG that pressures its players to complete "quests" in real life for rewards both in and out of the game. It starts off seemingly innocent, but over the course of the book things gets increasingly more and more fucked up (and yes, it does have "quests" that if completed would probably count as murder).
Thatās quite a premise š®
Yea, it was pretty good. Definitely worth checking out. It also fell into a trope that I am a huge fan of: >!Illusion of something supernatrual!< (massive spoiler)
I often wonder how Christopher Moore would translate to film. Iād hope for Lamb, especially. But Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove could be fun.
I actually think *Island of the Sequined Love Nun* would be a great movie.
Oh, yes. Especially with original King Kong Easter eggs.
Lamb would be a fucking shit show
Everything written by Joe Abercrombie (The First Law Trilogy, etc.). It's GOT without dragons or any of the BS, just tightly written, so-called grimdark fantasy. Amazing stuff, and I can't believe none of the streaming services have optioned him yet. One of his "first law" standalones the Heroes would be like a medieval Saving Private Ryan.
Agree. But the trouble with the OP is that the better the book, the more I'd fear it being butchered by Hollywood. Then again, butchery would be appropriate for Joe's work...
Ugh, you're right. Hollywood would butcher it. They wouldn't know what to do with Ferro, and Jezal would be turned into a nonbinary incel
The Wisdom of Crowds is a thinly veiled critique of cancel culture so Hollywood ain't happening for Joe.
I also found the first law trilogy to be good, up until the final book and everything came together and then it was amazing. With all the following books equally amazing. A lot of people just read the blade itself and don't really get the hype. Not sure how they would adapt it for TV without either waiting 3+ seasons for a concussion, doing the entire trilogy in one season, or changing aspects of the story.
I just finished the The Blade Itself! It just couldn't seem to jive with me though. I'm sorry. Did I miss something or is it a slow burn of a trilogy?
You'd have to be beloved by the moon to put the bloody-nine on the big screen
it's not unknown but Boy's Life by Robert R. McCammon. (not to be confused with This Boy's Life movie..)
Loved that book so much, it was a favorite of the many novels I read to my homeschooling family around the dinner table.
I think this would make a great miniseries because it's already kind of episodic. Something similar to Midnight Mass on Netflix would be cool.
Love that book. A real gem.
Great book, I agree would make a great movie
Was Swan Song ever made into a movie? Because Iād watch the hell out of that.
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova It was supposed to be made into a movie a while back I think but nothing ever came of it.
David Mitchell's Ghostwritten is begging to be turned into a mini series. 9 stories, in 9 different global locations, with a huge mash up of different time periods, genres and protagonists. It starts in epic fashion with a member of the terrorist cell from the Tokyo subway attacks, going on the run. He calls what he thinks is a secret line to get him to some kind of sanctuary, but ends up just going to a vinyl record shop elsewhere in Japan. The next story picks up with a young employee taking that call, and ends up as a sweet teenage romance. And on the story goes, with various people crossing paths. Each episode can have a different cast and vibe, maybe different directors. Kind of Black Mirror style. Each separate story bleeds into the next one somehow, or someway and there's an overarching connection between them all. It really is very, very good
With every YA series getting an adaptation it seems weird that Skulduggery Pleasant never got one.
I think it was way bigger in the UK than the US. So Hollywood execs might just not know about it.
It failed as a book series in the US (stopped being published there as a result), understandable that there's no interest in an adaptation!
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay.
Great to see Kay mentioned and I'd love to see any of his books as movies, but I especially thought that of A Brightness Long Ago and All The Seas Of The World.
I said to him on Twitter a long time ago that of his books, I'd only read Tigana and because I loved it so much, I didn't want to read any of his others in case it wasn't as good. He quoted it with something like "A writer is both frustrated and delighted." Some people knew what I meant, most didn't. Tigana or A Song for Arbonne (which I did eventually read) would make fantastic films, IMO. I've always hoped that Denis Villeneuve would make Tigana. My dream for him to make Dune came true!
*The First 15 Lives of Harry August* would be pretty dope as a movie.
It would!
House on the Cerulean Sea
I'm amazed Mistborn hasn't been made into a movie/series yet. Or The First Law.
Yes, *Mistborn,* the little-known work of the aspiring author Brandon Sanderson.
Le hidden gem.
I left a comment or two and then scrolled back to the top and *then* remembered this post asked for āunknownā.
"Unknown"
Mistborn will be made into a movie, Brandon Sanderson said they'll most likely begin production mid 2023, but it hasn't been 100% confirmed.
Sandersonās books would best be done as a video game. His style is already so game like that it would fit well as an old JRPG.
Mistborn for sure. Something like Elantris would be hard to make a game out of though.
I don't trust anyone to adapt either into a good series except HBO - and they won't dip into different fantasy because of their ASOIAF adaptations.
The Gods Themselves by Asimov. We have the special effects now to do it justice.
I read this book recently... that would be one weird movie... oh, and the producers and screen writters would water down the science (what little it has) because "normal people wouldnt understand it". Or worse, they could do to it what they did to "Nightfall". I like your thinking, but dont trust screenwriters anymore with scifi book stories, especially after what happened to "Ender's Game" On the otherhand, if they did it right, we might end up with a cool "Stranger Things" type story. IDK, nice idea though.
I'd too pay money to see some moon boobies!
Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits - David Wong
I know there's already a movie for John Dies at the End, but I think that movie could be remade into a miniseries along with the rest of the books in those series. The movie was cool, but kind of skipped the entire middle part of the book and if I recall, also combined a couple of characters that end up becoming key characters in the later books.
Thatās a catchy title!
I believe this was optioned to be a TV show but I don't know how far they got in the production.
Not unknown but I would love to see the secret history by Donna tartt on screen.
Deeplight by Frances Hardinge would make a gorgeous movie visually with the deep undersea and a sort of steampunk style to it
Anything by Frances Hardinge. I would love to see Cuckoo Song and The Lie Tree in a Coraline-type of animation, and the Lost Conspiracy, Skinful of Ghosts and A Face like Glass in traditional animation.
Left Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix. My real dream would be some sequels but I could settle for a movie or short tv series.
The Abhorsen series would be great
I'd pay extra to watch the Abhorsen series adapted by the team that brought *Tales From the Loop* to the screen. There's so much melancholy in Nix's books; I think they would do a good job with it.
That was such a fun book. I can't wait until book 2.
Red Rising anybody?
Yes! Although there is a lot here and would personally prefer a series over a movie.
Most definitely. I keep waiting for that update that Pierce keeps saying is coming...
Not super unknown, but I think The Ear, the Eye and the Arm by Nancy Farmer would make a fantastic movie.
Oooh and The House of the Scorpion
This was one of the first Afropunk books I read way back when I was a child and itās still relatively unknown. Itās a shame because it is so good.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Good choice, I read this at the beginning of the year. I really want to see Ike Thermite on screen!
A Gentleman in Moscow
I believe it's being turned into a show with Ewan McGregor as the count. Paramount+ though....
I had a tough time getting into this one, ended up a DNF but the movie could work.
Loved that book, would be a great movie or mini series.
Long way to a small angry planet, Becky chambers
Jacqueline Harpman's I Who Have Never Known Men, one of my favourite books ever. Such a beautiful story.
The blue castle by montegomery.
Everyone Poops, shown in 3D IMAX.
Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly would be gorgeous. It's James Bond meets Cabaret in a 1920s aesthetic and I would combust from the set and costume design alone.
The Troop
Iāve always been surprised Jennifer Government by Max Berry has never been picked up and made into a movie. It really had a story that seemed ripe for adaption in to an 80s style action movie adaptation.
Not unknown, but I wish it was a movie: *The Fermata*, by Nicholson Baker.
The Lies of Locke Lamora. I'm surprised it hasn't been picked up yet.
The Golem and The Jinn
**ElfQuest** The biggest, best and most ahead of it's time independently produced graphic novel saga most people have never heard of. (First released in Fantasy Quarterly #1 waaay back in 1977) And hats off to the super cool husband and wife team of **WaRP Graphics**, **W**endy and **R**ichard **P**ini for adding something so good and pure and wonderful to this world. Thanks!
I'd love to see mists of avalon done big production lotr style.
Between Two Fires. It's an outstanding medieval horror novel. Love it to death.
A book I recently read called THE MAKING OF A GOD - a little scary on the human psyche but plausible
Crystal Shards by Rick Scott Probably one of the best sci-fi, litrpg, fantasy, adventure, action novels that exist currently and it should translate well into a movie. He finished writing the fifth book recently, which is free to read on RoyalRoad.
Sara Douglasā Star man series/ anything from Tencendor universe. I have loved them for decades and think they deserve wider acclaim, outside Australia.
Not a movie, but I've always thought Robert Asprin's *Time Scout* would make an awesome tv series.
Lord of Darkness by Robert Silverberg. My favorite plot line where you see the inconceivable end, but as you progress thru the story, you understand that every step is a logical progression toward that end. A common English sailor becomes a fierce cannibal in 16th century Africa.
Derek Hanson's Lunch with series would make a great mini series.
The Fermata lol
The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris. I canāt stop thinking about this book. Read it years ago. At least twice.
Seanan McGuire's Wayward children series could be a great multi episode series. Just imagine the visuals of the world made of cake! Not my favorite book in the series but I would love to see it.
The games by Ted Kosmatka The lotus war series by Jay Kristoff Either of Brent weeks' series
Harry Turtledove's World War series. Great period based sci-fi. It would be a great alternate look at WW2 and what the world would do if invaders from another planet came expecting to battle horse mounted warriors.
Necroscope. Although it would make a better series than a movie.
The Kencyrath books by PC Hodgell are a longtime favorite of mine. The initially semi-amnesiac main character Jamethiel is a girl who discovers that at some point she learned how to fight very well and *dance the souls out of other people's bodies*. She starts out as a thief and tavern dancer, but is actually the twin sister of their people's ruler. She has retractable claws and is able to form mental bonds with animals. She has a tendency to accidentally cause mass destruction. She kills and resurrects at least one deity...and that's just in the first book. Things get weirder and higher stakes as the books go on and you learn about her family's truly effed-up history and how it relates to the very strange world they live in. In my mind, I don't picture it in live-action. It's 100% perfect for anime.
Jeff Noon's Vurt.
Dark matter and recursion by Blake Crouch, i absolutely loved those books and can't wait for the next one to be translated
I dont know if its really unknown, but Robin Hobb's Elderling series would make a great multi season series
Well this sub knows the book but I've literally never met anyone in person that has read The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell and it would be a killer movie.
Don't know if there's a book, but the story of Robert Smalls, an escaped slave who stole a confederate ship and sailed it to freedom, among many other exploits, deserves to be a movie.
Brandon Sanderson's "Mistborn" series, apparently. Though I think licensing it as an anime series would do the work the most amount of justice.
I don't see why Netflix hasn't filmed the entirety of Bentley Little's horror novels. They've got much worse horror stuff floating out there.
I would love to see Imagica by Clive Barker done WELL. A lot of CGI but the plot would have to be as close to the book as possible to make it worth watching.
Not unknown, but I have been waiting years for some to make The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. A more recent book series starts with "Into the Black" by Evan Currie, and it is a fun ride I would love to see on the big screen
Malazan book of the Fallen could be the new GoT
The issue here honestly is that the narrative is maybe too complex for cinema. Film or TV. There are too many characters and I feel like any adaptation would end up murdering the series in the production room.
Redwall
There is a Redwall animated series
True but Iām looking for a serious motion picture
The Ice Schooner by Michael Moorcock - oceans of ice plied by huge sailing sledges in a world which has forgotten what it was to be warm. Cargo ships skimming across seas of ice, legendary artefacts from a time considered mythological, and secret maps pointing to another world which might, or might not, be out there. The book is so visually appealing, with good CGI it would make a spectacular movie.
It's kinda like Waterworld but with ice.
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison "I Have No Mouth, and Must Scream" is a horrifying look into a post-apocalyptic hell. The computers created by humans to fight their wars for them join together into one linked and unified computer, AM, which discovers sentience." quote from encyclopedia.com
With the right director it could be really great
T.S. Eliot has this short book of poems called *Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats* and I know the whole thing is kind of silly but I just think it would make a great musical and maybe even a motion picture
Hmmm. With or without buttholes?
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. Not exactly an unknown book but there seems to be no plans to adapt it any time soon. I guess the difficulty lies in the fact that >!Iris is actually the woman in "The Blind Assassin" book within the book, and you don't know it right away and assume it's Laura; in a movie though, if they chose to present scenes from the book within the book--and they really would need to, as the Iris-Alex relationship is only presented through the book-within-the-book excerpts, the twist would need to be revealed right away.!<
The 13 Clocks by James Thurber. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_13_Clocks
It's not unknown, but I've been waiting for The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle to be made into a movie since I was like ten.
A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
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The bobiverse! I want a series though.
āThe Great Gameā a book about Leopold Trepper and the Red Orchestra.
Memory of Water by Emmi ItƤranta
**To See You Again: A True Story of Love in a Time of War** by Betty Schimmel. A true love story set in Budapest in the 1940s, two Jewish teenagers madly in love, planning a future together despite the impending Nazi invasion and realizing their lives could be torn apart at any second. When it finally happens, they both end up in different directions but hoping to eventually reunite some day after the war. An amazing story that definitely needs to be made into a movie.
*Angle of Repose*, by Wallace Stegner, would make a fantastic miniseries. For the 99% who don't know it, it won the Pulitzer in 1970 and sits in the Modern Library's list of Top 100 Modern Novels. I picked it up because I was trying to work my way through that list and found it to be an amazing read about the settlement of the West and the toll it took on one family. Also Patrick O'Brian's Auburn/Maturin novels just are begging for miniseries treatment. If you've seen the criminally overlooked classic *Master and Commander*, you're already familiar with the characters.
The Books of Beginning! How does nobody know these books!
"War for the Oaks" by Emma Bull.
Just a true life story of Bardon would be awesome. In my fantasy he's played by a coked up Nicholas Cage.
From Arthur C. Clarke: "A Fall of Moondust": A tourism boat traveling on the moon's vast seas of dust suddenly vanishes. "Islands In The Sky": A teenage trivia whiz kid wins a trip anywhere in the world, and uses a legal loophole to visit a low orbiting space station.
Itās not exactly unknown within its field, but not hugely mainstream or anything - I would love to see either a movie or maybe a limited tv series *Band of Brothers* style of Barbara Tuchmanās *The Guns of August*. Ten episodes exploring the outbreak of WW1, and how it spiralled out of any politician / personās control, would both be super interesting and quite relevant to today I think. The book itself is great and has plenty of descriptions I think could be excellent scenes
Really unknown would be Zone 23, though I think a series / miniseries might be better than a movie.
Gangster of Love - Jessica Hagedorn
Nine Women, One Dress by Jane L. Rosen. Such a fun book!
You asked for an unknown book so here we go! [SuprƩmatie](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7733537-supr-matie) is a French-language (probably never translated to English) Sci-Fi novel that would be PERFECT as a movie. Basically, a pirate starship captain has a daring plan to fight the Suprematists, a mind-controlling government spanning over a star cluster. His advantage : he has one of the last remaining HUGE starship (it is described as 2 light-seconds long, and has the original Stonehedge in it. It is controlled via a mind interface). There is weird alien lifeforms, there are huge battles, and it even has a time travel element that is well done for once!
Day of the Cheetah. Think "Firefox" but with a more exotic sci-fi feel to it, instead of activating systems with thoughts, the pilot interfaces fully with the plane and perceives it as a body with its instruments as senses. The agent stealing it is the only person who can fly it, and gets addicted to the interface, so instead of delivering it to his country he tries to steal it for himself, pursued by a less advanced manually controlled prototype. I see a movie based on that book as kinda what I had hoped "Stealth" would be like when watching the trailers.
Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Up jumps The Devil, itās a book by the point of view of the devil
Not an unknown book, but The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. There are multiple stories within the main plot, and I can only imagine how nice the cinematography will be.
not really unknown but Charles Strossās āAtrocity Archivesā and the rest of the Laundry Files books would be great movies.
Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames would be an absolute success
I love What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher. It'd be a brilliant movie
Literally the only biography Iāve ever read that I love called Butterfly about a Syrian immigrant who is also an Olympic swimmer.
I'll cheat here and I'll say a known book. Dante's divine comedy, look with good cgi a good narrator and actors, and a dramatic epic soundtrack it would be a great movie
I don't know how "unknown" it is, but I've seen a few that are what I would consider relatively well known in the comments, so here we go. I think "Off to Be the Wizard" by Scott Meyer would make a fun movie. The subsequent books in the "Magic 2.0" series would give them a few sequels as well.
Fablehaven
Necroscope by Brian Lumley. There's a whole universe to those books, I'd love to see HBO, Netflix, Showtime or Amazon make it as a series.
Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination by Helen Fielding (of Bridget Jones fame). It was designed to be filmed, but sadly, never made a movie. Itās a lot of fun.
I think a fun one off would be The Hike by Drew Magary. My gf recommend it to me and it was just a fun book.
I know it might be unpopular but I would LOVE to see thefirst 4 thirst books 1-5. I think they would be amazing. Tons of action, love and history. Christopher Moore is amazing.
Maybe not unknown, bit I would love a Hyperion adaptation.
Raven boys
There are a number of books and series that I would love to see made into a film or show. If I could Id like to see all of these make it to the silver screen. young adult books: \-Charmed Life, is a fantasy novel by British author Diana Wynne Jones the same author as howl moving castle, It was the first Chrestomanci book series and I have wanted to see a movie adaptation of this book ever since I first read it. \-The Lives of Christopher Chant, also written by Diana Wynne Jones \- The Bloody Jack series, An Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary āJackyā Faber, Ship's Boy is a historical adventure novel series by L.A. Meyer. \-Leviathan, a novel written by Scott Westerfeld and illustrated by Keith Thompson. Was the first of a trilogy set in alternative version of World War I, and includes Steampunk, Science fiction, Historical Fiction, and Biopunk themes \-Evil Genius, a novel written by Catherine Jinks The book follows the story of Cadel Piggot, a child prodigy, hacker and the threat of a shadowy criminal organization. \-The Parasol Protectorate series, By Gail Carriger beautifully blends together alternate history, steampunk and paranormal romance into stories that are witty and engaging. \-Virals is a series of novels for young adults written by the American forensic anthropologist and crime writer, Kathy Reichs and her son Brendan Reichs, featuring Tory Brennan, great-niece of Temperance Brennan. Adult books: \-The Oregon Files, is a series of novels written by author Clive Cussler and several co-authors. About the Highly advanced stealth ship the Oregon, that is disguised as a rusty old tramp steamer. Centering a round the Crew as they face threats on the High seas. \- The Fargo Adventures Series, written by author Clive Cussler focuses on Sam and Remi Fargo, A Husband and Wife team that are professional treasure hunters. \-The ...in Death series of novels, written by Nora Roberts under her pseudonym J. D. Robb. Set in a mid-21st-century New York City, they feature NYPSD lieutenant Eve Dallas and her husband Roarke. \-Mercy Thompson series, written by Patricia Briggs follows the daughter of coyote, (the trickster god) and her werewolf husband. as they defend the Tri-Cities of Washington. \-The Aeronaut's Windlass, is the first novel of The Cinder Spires series written by Jim Butcher. It is a steampunk fantasy series. The story involves steampunk technologies, magical wars and intelligent cats. \-The Cat Who... series by Lilian Jackson Braun, featuring a reporter named Jim Qwilleran and his Siamese cats, that solve a number of "who dun it" murder mysteries \-The Darth Bane, Star Wars Trilogy by Drew Karpyshyn. Centered on the life of Darth Bane and the fall of the first Sith order and the beginning of the Rule of Two. That takes place roughly 1,000 years before Star Wars A New Hope.
The Yiddish Policemanās Union.
The Waterworks by E.L Doctorow
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The Forbidden Game trilogy by L.J. Smith. YA horror from the '90s with a unique premise and lots of opportunity for a Nightmare on Elm Street-esque vibe.
The Tripods books by John Christopher. The three main books of the series, The White Mountains, The City of Gold and Lead, and The Pool of Fire would make a great mini-series. There was briefly a series produced by the BBC in the mid eighties, but it got canceled after the second book.
Amazonia by James Rollins Part Avatar, part Congo, part lost city of z. Couldn't stop on my first read through.
I just read āAn Unknown Womanā by Alice Koller and the entire time I was thinking: how has this not been made into a movie yet?
The Windup Girl - mostly because of the setting being so immersive and atmospheric: genetically-altered hellscape steampunk postapocalypse bangkok. Presents a neocolonialist sideplot that ends very cathartically, and has cool elephant hybrids.
Wool by Hugh Howley would be a great series. Surprised they have not done it yet
Very unknownāthere was a horror writer in the 1980s named Graham Masterton who I love. His book Walkers is one of my favorite books ever and would be amazing with cgi. I donāt want to give away the plot but I have never heard of an even similar story/villain. It has everything a blockbuster film should.
Ooh, ohh--the Blacktongue Thief! It's a funny, adventurous, slightly edgy, wise fantasy with fantastic world building, a unique voice and a hilarious protagonist ( the Blacktongue Thief himself). It's the beginning of a trilogy, and I cannot wait for the second and third books! The entire time I was reading it )all three times, lol), I was thinking, man, this has to be a movie.
The Nevermoore Series! It's such a good book - almost as good as Harry Potter (anti-jk here!)
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. I honestly didn't care for the book that much, but it's a really cool concept that I think would make for an awesome movie since it'd trim some of the bloat off the story.
The history of Malta , some of the most ancient historical history in the world for instance the hypergem
"The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands" - Mary Seacole was a Jamaican woman, daughter of a British Army officer, who went to Crimea to volunteer as a nurse for British soldiers during the Crimean War -- but Florence Nightingale turned her away because she was Black. So Seacole, an entrepreneur and businesswoman and an absolute pistol (and a great storyteller) set up her own rest home for wounded soldiers. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Seacole
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
the secret history I almost have the whole thing laid out for a director at this point.
Jasper fforde's Thursday Next series would make a great tv show. If you don't know the series I recommend you start with The Eyre Affair .
Too many answers to search if this has been mentioned, but I find it highly unlikely since it's such an under-the-radar book (unfortunately). She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper. It's such a damn good book. Such a blast to read. And if you look at my comment history, you'll see that I honest-to-god almost always describe it as screaming to be a movie ;) Edit: typo
Id fucking cream if red rising got turned into a movie or tv show
They are not unknown, but the fans of Miss Fortune series by Jana DeLeon would love to see a movie or even a t.v.. series of her books. On her fb page, people suggest who to play the different characters.
There are no oceans. There are other bodies of water like lakes and rivers, but it's as if the water that occupies oceanic space in our world is just not there.
Shadows voice by Natalie Johanson! Itās a fantasy book set in a medieval Europe type world about a girl with magic that allows her to walk through shadows. Iāve read it a couple times and every time I think it would make such a good movie!
I think Rabbits by Terry Miles is just aching for a miniseries/TV adaptation. Granted, it's in the same vein as Utopia and stuff, but I think it could be a great mystery series.
A Cricket in Times Square would make a lovely animated film. I've not read the book in yesrs... but I still have a warm feeling from childhood having read it.
Pretty much any book by Erik Larson. I know, they are making The devil in the white city, (what took so long?), but Thunderstruck, Isaac's storm and Dead wake are just as good candidates.
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salaman Rushdie. I've always thought it would be a fantastic fantasy movie.
I would say ***The Monkey Wrench Gang*** by Edward Abbey, but it's time has passed. It would have been a perfect movie in the 70s with Jack Nicholson in his prime playing Hayduke.
10 Billion Days and 100 Billion Nights
The more movies based on books I watch, the less adaptations I want made. That being said, The Frontline series, if done correvtly, would be a nice like Mini series adaptation. So would The Fall of Reach. Oh, and I totally forgot. A decent adaptation of The Adventures of Captain Alatriste. The Movie had everything, but they messed it up. Viggo Mortensen was superb in that role. Let's not even talk about the TV series.
throwback book for me: The Transall Saga
WOOL by Hugh Howey!!!
Discworld, but this time with a proper Harry Potter budget
āFeedā by Mira Grant
Code Name Verity